| CalAsthma Update - November 19, 2007 |
| |
GENERAL
1) Event: PolicyLink Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice and Smart Growth in New Orleans, March 5th
2) Resource: EPA School Environment Assessment Tool
3) Study: Use of an electronic nose in the discrimination of patients with asthma and controls
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
4) Job Announcements: RAMP seeks Health Educators and Program Administrator
5) Job Announcement: UCS seeks Environmental Organizer
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
6) Event: Moving Forward freight transport conference in Carson, November 30th
*********************************************
GENERAL
1) Event: PolicyLink Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice and Smart Growth in New Orleans, March 5th
PolicyLink is convening Regional Equity '08: The Third National Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice, and Smart Growth on March 5-7, 2008, in New Orleans. Join more than 1,500 participants from a diverse mix of leaders and advocates for: issue-based sessions, forums for crating a regional equity movement, skills-building trainings, and a local service day (to benefit the people and the state of Louisiana). More than 45 workshops will address issues such as creating affordable housing, ending poverty, advocating effectively, and using technology for policy change. For more details, visit http://www.regionalequity08.org. Early bird registration is $199, but the price goes up to $265 after Monday, Dec. 17th, and space is limited. Registration covers access and materials for workshop sessions, plenaries, and activities, as well as breakfast and lunch for the two core days of the summit, and an evening reception.
2) Resource: EPA School Environment Assessment Tool
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released Version 2 of their Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool (HealthySEAT). This tool is a fully customizable software program designed to help school districts evaluate and manage all of their environmental, safety and health issues. HealthySEAT is designed to be used by district-level staff to conduct voluntary self-assessments of their school and other facilities and to track and manage information on environmental conditions school by school. The guidance included in HealthySEAT can improve the health of students and staff by ensuring that all potential environmental and safety hazards in schools (such as mold and indoor air quality problems, pesticide exposures, and chemical releases) are being properly managed. To download HealthySEAT Version 2, visit http://www.epa.gov/schools/healthyseat/.
3) Study: Use of an electronic nose in the discrimination of patients with asthma and controls
In the October edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers hypothesized that an electronic nose can discriminate between the exhaled air of patients with asthma from healthy controls, and between patients with different disease severities. Exhaled breath contains thousands of volatile organic compounds that could serve as biomarkers of lung disease – electronic noses can distinguish these compounds. The researchers studied a small group of patients with mild asthma and their controls and a group of patients with severe asthma and their controls and used an electronic nose to analyze their exhaled breath. Results showed that patients with mild asthma were distinguished from their controls and that patients with severe asthma were also distinguished from their controls. Patients with mild and severe asthma were less well discriminated from each other. The authors concluded that an electronic nose can discriminate exhaled breath of patients with asthma from controls but is less accurate in distinguishing asthma severities. To view the abstract of this study, visit http://www.jacionline.org/article/PIIS009167490701038X/abstract.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
4) Job Announcements: RAMP seeks Health Educators and Program Administrator
RAMP recently received a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control to serve as a Center for Excellence in Eliminating Disparities (CEED) in asthma under the auspices of REACH-US. Using a social-ecological approach, the goal is to develop and broadly disseminate a coordinated and comprehensive model of asthma management and prevention in order to eliminate asthma disparities among African Americans and Latinos. As a CEED, RAMP will: build upon its existing roles and strengthen its comprehensive approach to addressing asthma, which currently includes work in clinical, school, and outdoor settings; expand its scope to include child care settings, homes, and additional elements in the built environment; and formalize its community and stakeholder participatory process, program management, and multi-level intervention approaches with specific focus on partnerships with African American and Latino communities and eliminating asthma disparities.
In order to implement RAMP's growing scope of work, RAMP seeks to hire for three different positions. Detailed descriptions of the three positions can be found at the links below:
· Health Educator IV (focusing on regional advocacy and technical assistance) — http://www.phi.org/about-employment-details.cfm?id=1101
The full-time Health Educator IV manages some of RAMP’s regional advocacy efforts and its technical assistance activities. With the regional advocacy, the incumbent will lead some of RAMP’s collaborative regional advocacy activities, such as addressing asthma in schools or child care settings or addressing the connection between asthma and the built environment, housing, and/or diesel pollution. With the technical assistance (TA) activities, the incumbent will provide an array of TA to community asthma coalitions across the Bay Area.
· Health Educator IV (focusing on state and regional policy and advocacy) — http://www.phi.org/about-employment-details.cfm?id=1102
The full-time Health Educator IV manages RAMP’s activities related to state policy work and to regional advocacy efforts. With the regional advocacy efforts, the incumbent will lead some of RAMP’s collaborative regional advocacy activities, such as addressing asthma in schools or child care settings or addressing the connection between asthma and the built environment, housing, and/or diesel pollution. With the state policy work, the incumbent will lead a statewide network of community-based asthma coalitions through a process to identify policy priorities and then advocate for them, in collaboration with key partners.
· Program Administrator II—http://www.phi.org/about-employment-details.cfm?id=1100
In partnership with RAMP’s Associate Director, the part-time Program Administrator II is responsible for administrative and financial planning and organizing in support of the program.
5) Job Announcement: UCS seeks Environmental Organizer
The Union of Concerned Scientists seeks an organizer to build momentum for clean energy, clean vehicles, and effective global warming policies in California. Under the direction of the California Outreach Coordinator, the Organizer will develop and implement outreach and organizing projects including cultivating relationships with key allies and recruiting and mobilizing activists through on the ground efforts and web-based organizing tools. The position requires knowledge of grassroots organizing and effective issue campaign development on the local and state levels. A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience is required. Working knowledge of general transportation, energy, and climate policy and the California legislative process is needed. Fluency in Spanish and English is preferred, as is familiarity with the Central Valley and/or Southern California. The position is located in Berkeley. To apply, send a letter of interest and resume to cajobs@ucsusa.org – applications will be accepted until December 15th.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
6) Event: Moving Forward freight transport conference in Carson, November 30th
The Trade, Health and Environment (THE) Impact Project is organizing a conference on healthy solutions for communities impacted by trade, ports and goods movement on November 30th and December 1st in Carson. The conference, entitled “Moving Forward”, will provide an opportunity to learn about the current health research related to air pollution and ports/goods movement, to hear from communities about health-related concerns and efforts related to ports and goods movement, and to work together to develop strategies on preventing and reducing those health impacts. For more information and to register, visit http://hydra.usc.edu/scehsc/web/Conference%202007/Conference%202007.html.
<< Back to update list
|
|
Printer Friendly 
